Munch

Type Ia Supernovae are standard candles so their mean apparent magnitude has been exploited to learn about the redshift-distance relationship. Besides intrinsic scatter in this standard candle, additional source of scatter is caused by gravitational magnification by large scale structure. Here we probe the dependence of this dispersion on cosmological parameters and show that information about the amplitude of clustering, \sigma_8, is contained in the scatter. In principle, it will be possible to constrain \sigma_8 to within 5% with observations of 2000 Type Ia Supernovae. However, extracting this information requires subtlety as the distribution of magnifications is far from Gaussian. If one incorrectly assumes a Gaussian distribution, the estimate of the clustering amplitude will be biased three-\sigma away from the true value.

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First cosmic shear results from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Wide Synoptic Legacy Survey

Authors: H. Hoekstra, Y. Mellier, L. van Waerbeke, E. Semboloni, L. Fu, M.J. Hudson, L.C. Parker, I. Tereno, K. Benabed
Comments: Submitted to ApJ

We present the first measurements of the weak gravitational lensing signal induced by the large scale mass distribution from data obtained as part of the ongoing Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). The data used in this analysis are from the Wide Synoptic Survey, which aims to image ~170 square degree in five filters. We have analysed ~22 deg2 (31 pointings) of i' data spread over two of the three survey fields. These data are of excellent quality and the results bode well for the remainder of the survey: we do not detect a significant `B'-mode, suggesting that residual systematics are negligible at the current level of accuracy. Assuming a Cold Dark Matter model and marginalising over the Hubble parameter h=[0.6,0.8], the source redshift distribution and systematics, we constrain sigma_8, the amplitude of the matter power spectrum. At a fiducial matter density Omega_m=0.3 we find sigma_8=0.85+-0.06. This estimate is in excellent agreement with previous studies. Combination of our results with those from the Deep component of the CFHTLS enables us to place a constraint on a constant equation of state for the dark energy, based on cosmic shear data alone. We find that w_0<-0.8 at 68% confidence.

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Cosmic Shear Analysis with CFHTLS Deep data

Authors: E. Semboloni, Y. Mellier, L. van Waerbeke, H. Hoekstra, I. Tereno, K. Benabed, S. Gwyn, L. Fu, M.J. Hudson, R. Maoli, L. Parker
Comments: submitted to A&A

We present the first cosmic shear measurements obtained from the T0001 release of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. The data set covers three uncorrelated patches (D1, D3 and D4) of one square degree each observed in u*, g', r', i' and z' bands, out to i'=25.5. The depth and the multicolored observations done in deep fields enable several data quality controls. The lensing signal is detected in both r' and i' bands and shows similar amplitude and slope in both filters. B-modes are found to be statistically zero at all scales. Using multi-color information, we derived a photometric redshift for each galaxy and separate the sample into medium and high-z galaxies. A stronger shear signal is detected from the high-z subsample than from the low-z subsample, as expected from weak lensing tomography. While further work is needed to model the effects of errors in the photometric redshifts, this results suggests that it will be possible to obtain constraints on the growth of dark matter fluctuations with lensing wide field surveys. The various quality tests and analysis discussed in this work demonstrate that MegaPrime/Megacam instrument produces excellent quality data. The combined Deep and Wide surveys give sigma_8= 0.88 pm 0.07 assuming the Peacock & Dodds non-linear scheme and sigma_8=0.85 pm 0.07 for the halo fitting model and Omega_m=0.3. We assumed a Cold Dark Matter model with flat geometry. Systematics, Hubble constant and redshift uncertainties have been marginalized over. Using only data from the Deep survey, the 1 sigma upper bound for w_0, the constant equation of state parameter is w_0 < -0.32.

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On the Determination of Neutrino Masses and Dark Energy Evolution

Authors: Kazuhide Ichikawa, Tomo Takahashi
Comments: 18 pages, 8 figures

We discuss the possibilities of the simultaneous determination of the neutrino masses and the evolution of dark energy from future cosmological observations such as cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure (LSS) and the cross correlation between them. Recently it has been discussed that there is a degeneracy between the neutrino masses and the equation of state for dark energy. It is also known that there are some degeneracies among the parameters describing the dark energy evolutions. We discuss the implications of these on the cross correlation of CMB with LSS in some details. Then we consider to what extent we can determine the neutrino masses and the dark energy evolution using the expected data from CMB, LSS and their cross correlation.

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Primordial Black Hole Pair Creation Probability in Modified Gravitational Theory

Authors: B. C. Paul, Dilip Paul
Comments: 17 pages, no figure

The probability for quantum creation of an inflationary universe with a pair of black holes is computed in a modified gravitational theory. Considering a gravitational action which includes a cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) in addition to $ \alpha R^{2} $ and $ \delta R^{-1}$ terms, the probabilities have been evaluated for two different kinds of spatial sections, one accommodating a pair of black holes and the other without black hole. We adopt a technique prescribed by Bousso and Hawking to calculate the above creation probability in a semiclassical approximation with Hartle-Hawking boundary condition. Depending on the parameters in the action some new and physically interesting instanton solutions are presented here which may play an important role in the creation of the early universe. We note that the probability of creation of a universe with a pair of black holes is strongly suppressed with a positive cosmological constant when $\delta = \frac{4 \Lambda^{2}}{3}$ for $\alpha > 0$ but it is more probable for $\alpha < - \frac{1}{6 \Lambda}$. It is also found that instanton solutions are allowed without a cosmological constant in the theory provided $\delta < 0$.

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The kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovitch effect as a dark energy probe

Authors: Simon DeDeo, David N. Spergel, Hy Trac
Comments: 7 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables

Upcoming observatories will be able to detect the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovitch (kSZ) effect with unprecendented signal-to-noise, and cross-correlations with foreground signals such as galaxy counts are a promising way to extract additional cosmological information. We consider how well a tomographic galaxy-count cross-correlation experiment, using data from WMAP, ACT and SALT, can significantly constrain the properties of dark energy. We include the need to model a wide range of effects, including those associated with complicated baryonic physics, in our analysis. We demonstrate how much of the cosmological information contained in the kSZ comes from larger scales than that in the galaxy power spectrum, and thus how use of the kSZ can help avoid difficult systematics associated with non-linear and scale-dependent bias at k>1h Mpc^{-1}.

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